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Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court of the United States to delay the deadline for a law that would force the sale or ban of TikTok to allow a “political decision” once he is sworn in as president next month.
Under a bill Congress approved in April, Chinese parent ByteDance must divest TikTok with January 19 2025 — the day before Trump is inaugurated as president — or face a nationwide ban.
The law came after US officials warned the platform posed national security risks, in part because ByteDance could be forced to share the information of 170 million Americans who use the video app with Beijing under Chinese law.
But Trump has asked the high court to impose a stay while it considers the merits of the case in order to give his incoming administration “an opportunity to pursue a political solution to the questions involved in the case”, according to the brief . given on Friday.
On the campaign trail before his re-election, Trump said he opposed the stage ban and promised to do so “save” the device.
The effort to do so represents a U-turn from 2020, when then-president Trump issued an executive order to ban the use in the US and gave ByteDance 90 days to withdraw its assets. the American one and any data that TikTok had collected in the US. The order was blocked by the courts and eventually overturned by US President Joe Biden, who later signed the law into law mid-trial.
The interview said: “President Trump is the only one with the consummate experience, electoral mandate, and political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing security concerns.” of the country presented by the government – concerns that President Trump himself has acknowledged.”
The statement added Trump “is not taking a position on this controversy”.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The application throws Trump, who as president would not have power over the Supreme Court, among the difficult cases that will decide the fate of the popular app in the US.
The top court has scheduled oral arguments in the case on January 10.
The brief comes after the Supreme Court earlier this month decided to hear TikTok’s appeal against a lower court ruling that rejected its legal challenge, as well as its subsequent application to suspend that action pending further court proceedings.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia earlier this month upheld the law, rejecting TikTok’s claim that it was unconstitutional and violated the First Amendment’s protection for free speech.
